By casting spells and creating online persona to fool their victims, the Ivorian figure of the “brouteur” reveals the connections between the occult and virtual dimensions.
Being aware of the people you’re meditating with is an integral part of the process.
Evgenia Kostiaeva | Shutterstock
Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction when it comes to the magicians of the Victorian era.
Most Wiccans in the U.S. practice alone, though they congregate in large gatherings to conduct rituals and learn from one another.
Sarah Swinford/EyeEm via Getty Images
If it rains on St Swithin’s day it is believed that it will rain for the rest of summer.
Mr Albinism Kenya Jairus Ongetta (L) and Miss Albinism Kenya Loise Lihanda pose at the Mr and Miss Albinism East Africa pageant.
YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP via Getty Images
Because of their appearance, people with albinism in Tanzania are often socially excluded and frequently (and sometimes violently) discriminated against.
Magic fascinated and troubled early Christians as much as it does some people today.
Marvel Studios
As the U.S. election approaches, various groups have mobilized to vote. But witches have taken it a little further, organizing online spellcasting meet-ups to engage in magical resistance.
Isaac Newton was a man of many talents, including alchemy.
Wellcome Images
The idea of organized satanic witchcraft was invented in 15th-century Europe by church and state authorities, who at first had a hard time convincing regular folks it was real.
Magic was an every day part of life in the Graeco-Roman empire.
John William Waterhouse
Voodoo is often seen as a practice involving magic. In Haiti, Voodoo is a religion born out of the struggle of slaves. And today, it is used as a form of healing and protection.
Examining chicken intestines, reading the tea leaves, watching the markets – people turn to experts for insight into the mysteries that surround them.
Manvir Singh
Hidden forces are always at work in the world, and people always want to control them, a cognitive anthropologist explains. Enter the human universal of shamanism.
Illustrations from the Nuremberg Chronicle, by Hartmann Schedel (1440-1514)
Laura Sumrall, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
Reports of demonic possession are once again on the rise. But during the devil’s last apogee in early modern Europe, demonic afflictions were taken seriously by both priests and physicians.